United States Consumer Confidence August 2016

United States: Consumer confidence hits an 11-month high in August

August 30, 2016

After remaining virtually unchanged in July, consumer confidence hit an 11-month high in August. The consumer confidence indicator published by Conference Board jumped from 96.7 in July to 101.1 in August and overshot the 98.0 that analysts had expected. August’s print, which was the highest since September 2015, suggests that U.S. consumer spending will continue to be a key support for economic growth.

The survey result showed that both households’ expectations and assessment of the current economic situation improved substantially over the previous month. Lynn Franco, the Board’s Director of Economic Indicators and Surveys, stated that, “Short-term expectations regarding business and employment conditions, as well as personal income prospects, also improved, suggesting the possibility of a moderate pickup in growth in the coming month.” A notable result was the survey’s labor differential—the percentage of respondents saying that jobs are plentiful less those saying jobs are hard to get—improved to a post-crisis high of 2.6.

United States Economic News

Retail sales grew 0.2% on a seasonally-adjusted month-on-month basis in November, slowing significantly from the upwardly revised 1.1% growth recorded in October (previously reported: +0.8% month-on-month), but nevertheless exceeding market expectations of 0.1%.
The print was mostly weighed on by a contraction in gasoline stations sales (November: -2.3% mom; October: +3.2% mom), mainly reflecting lower prices at the pump in November following the sharp oil price tumble recorded in the previous month—which took some time to feed through to retail prices.

The widely anticipated meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires on 30 November–1 December concluded with an agreement to temporarily halt the escalation of the trade dispute between the world’s two economic giants.

Sign up for our newsletter

Cookies Policy: We use third-party cookies to improve our services by analyzing your browsing habits.
By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. For more information on cookies and how you can disable them, see our "Cookies Policy".
Close